Sonoma and Marin Leaders Meet

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On Saturday, 202099, Several Sonoma County folks met with several Marin folks to share information on what was going on in the respective counties with regards to town and county preparations for the turn of the year. The marin folks included y2ker's from Bolinas, San Anselmo, San Rafael, and Ross. The Sonoma y2ker's came from Sebastopol, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa. Each person shared what they had been doing in their particular townships, with the local government, and in areas beyond their couny lines. Generally, the Marin folks reported past successes in each of their towns as well as some interesting projects they have completed out of county. The primary, out of county, they had all worked on was the Oakland y2k Froum conducted just a couple of weeks ago. They implied that it was a big project and that many many people had attended. Of note, a couple of problems became apparent at the large gathering. There were few poor people in attendance. Some that did come were noted to leave quite upset. The pace of the forum was "way too fast" for some attendees. People of color (Hispanic folks, Native Americans, and members from the Black Community) were missing in number. The thrust of what I got from this Saturday gathering was that if you were not white/30/and internet qualified you were walked over in the name of speed. It was also mentioned that women's voices were not represented. All of these areas are where the marin reporter wanted to focus. In fact, connections and telephone numbers were provided for links to these missing persons. This was an area where the Sonoma/Marin meeting provided an exchange of value. The Marin folks also stated that in several cases the county government had worked closely with them in their efforts to identify special groups within the county that would need focus and preparation assistance. The example here was, elders in group housing that might need more assistance than could be provided under ordinary times. Residential care facilities, monitored by the county services, were listed for Marin people that wanted to assist the elders. This information was also valuable , in that I know of no support or coordination happening here in our county or my town. Perhaps it is an area some of us could foster government/citizen activity. One Marin citizen is beginning to focus on agriculture as an area to be activated and organized for. My example for my town is that there is a dairy within a half mile of our highschool. If he looses electricity to milk his cows, he will need our hands to milk his cows. (I know, I know, this is a big public health long shot. But, I have milked cows as a kid and I know the cows need to be milked or suffer ,, Got Milk....It's just part of the adventure called y2k). The same person from Bolinas has a library of good tapes on many y2k facets, her phone is 1-415-868-1900. Another Marin y2ker has been working in the food distribution busisness for many years. He echoed the the Fleming Foods executive, Quintin Dees, thoughts on food availability in last November and December 1999. "Better buy ahead" is what he said in so many words. At the least this meeting provided food for thought crossing our county lines.

Of course, all of us from Sonoma county told em things were just fine. We went by each town and each project we , as individuals, had been working on. For Sebastopol, there were two of us that spoke on connections within the Hispanic and Native American community, agricultural connections, working with elders through Earth Elders,and connections with radio broadcasting in and out of Sonoma County. Santa Rosa leadership spoke of urging people to begin to use of"Community Cash". It would serve us all in connecting with our own community person to person. I think we all shared some of the subtler messages of our y2k experience. The words sounded like, "SLOW DOWN", "LISTEN TO WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU ,NOT YOUR INNER SENCE OF URGENCY". "PART OF THE TASK AND MESSAGE OF Y2K IS TO PRACTICE NOT DOING EVERYTHING FASTERE AND FASTER". To that end, we all spoke of outside recreational activity as a way to meet the challange. You might look for an announcement for kayaking, hiking or rock climbing as a way to prepare for y2k. There was much agreement that we all needed to gather again and do it outside , discuss y2k stategies, as we hike or paddle along. Many thanks go to Natalie Peck of Petaluma for bringing this meeting about. And an equal thanks go to Shepard Bliss for keeping us all on track. This report is by Fred Beeler (Please forgive errors or omissions)

-- fred beeler (fbeeler@yahoo.com), February 21, 1999


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